"We need not discuss this any further T'arik. I will contact her vessel. It is time." The Klingon woman, with small ridges on her forehead, long flowing brown curled hair, and a deep scar under her left eye spoke with fierceness. Her green eyes darted towards T'arik, a much larger and broad shouldered Klingon male. Grey of hair but with strong features. They both wore Klingon Navy uniforms, as they both looked to the nameplate at the back of the dimly lit room. "THE IKS Ka'rota". A mainstay of the Klingon patrol fleet, one of many Bird's of prey patrolling the Klingon border.

He moved to her, to grasp her arm strongly as she attempted to move to the communication panel on the wall behind him. "Wait! Do you even know that this "Elysium" is the correct vessel where she is serving? Starfleet may have made a mistake K'leela! If you are wrong, it could bring great dishonour to our house!" He spat, with a warning tone.

She wrestled her arm free and backhanded T'arik with force, enough to bring a smile to his face. "Very well. You've made your choice." He stood aside. "I believe the Captain of this Vessel is a man who goes by the name of Gary Taylor." T'arik bowed slightly, and moved behind K'leela as she tapped in commands into the communication panel, placing both hands behind his back in a military stance.

She moved her hands across the screen with the skill of an engineer. Clearing up the transmission. "I should have done this through our main communication grid, but doing so would bring attention from Klingon high command. That must be avoided for now, until we know how best to deal with this situation." She spoke as the transmission cleared, enough for Commander Taylor's face to become visible on screen.

Gary was in his ready room reading a western novel, titled Lonesome Dove when he was alerted to an incoming message from a Klingon vessel, one IKS Ka'rota. He moved to sit behind his desk frowning in confusion as to why he was being contacted by Klingons. However he nonetheless took the call and was surprised to see a brown haired woman with a scar under her left eye staring back at him with a penetrating gaze. This is Commander Taylor, whom do I have the honor of speaking with?"

T'arik interjected strongly, part of his outburst was caught before the sound went silent. "Commander?! He is not the captai---" Onscreen they argued with passion, gesturing wildly at one another. "---ain?! What is this K'leela. Our intel is wrong! We cannot discuss this with him! Think of the dishonor this would bring house T'lanak!"

K'leela raised her fist and he calmed. "Enough! He is probably second in command. That will be good enough. Restrain yourself T'arik or I will have you removed and will deal with this myself!" She huffed a sigh, as the sound returned.

She smiled as best as she could. "Dogh loD qan." ~Foolish old man~ "Forgive our...intrusion commander. The circumstances we contact you are, difficult at beast. You are the commanding officer to..." She paused and looked away for a few moments to a different screen, that contained personnel information on "Ensign Kara hoffman. At least that is her name now, that is?" T'arik spat onto the floor. "loD vaj be'?" ~From male to female?~ He angrily paced the room, clearly attempting to restrain his anger.

Gary sat silently as the Klingons argued among themselves. "I'm the Executive Officer of the Elysium and yes Lt. Hoffman falls under my command." He replied as he watched a Klingon male, T'arik wasn't it? Paced the floor, clearly angry over something. "How does your call have anything to do with Lt. Hoffman?"

"Lieutenant?" Her eyebrows raised. "So she is doing well and bringing honor to her name. Most excellent." She let out a breath, and typed some commands into the console. A Klingon personnel file appeared onscreen. A picture of a baby klingon boy appeared with the narration "bID tlhIngan" underneath it. "That means half-klingon if you cannot understand it commander. Measures were taken, very specific methods to hide genetic markers, blood type and Klingon features. This was done when he...she was very young. Kara hoffman..." She paused and T'arik turned, and put a strong gripped fist to her shoulder. "She was...is" K'leela paused closing her eyes for a moment "...My daughter."

As the Klingon woman spoke and showed him a picture of a baby boy, he had pulled up Kara's picture from her file. He looked again a the woman and then at Kara's photo. He could see a family resemblance. Piercing gaze, the long hair. "Lt Hoffman, Kara is out assistant chief engineer. She is quite capable as well as talented. Might I inquire of your name ma'am?"

"Of course. I am Kuri T'lanak of the honourable house T'lanak. My Klingon warriors call me K'leela. I am Chief engineer of this honourable ship. My name means "Strong of mind." She frowned as T'arik moved in front of her to speak, but she did not oppose.

"The House of T'lanak wishes to meet with Lieutenant Hoffman. She must be informed of her heritage. There is not any time to waste, our honour depends on her being fully integrated into our family at once! There can be no delays, or this house will fall!" He growled towards the commander, turning to K'leela behind her for approval. She nodded and lifted her hand, and T'arik moved back behind her."

"You see commander, Klingon family politics are complicated. I cannot take full rule over my house, if we have "dishonour" in our family. If the Klingon high council were to discover I had an illegitimate child, whom I gave up to a human family. They will see my house as dishonourable and my family will be tarnished forever. T'arik, myself and the others would be outcasts. We must inform her of her birth rights and the "measures" that were taken to hide her true identity should be removed at once to resolve this issue. Perhaps you do not understand..." She angrily moved away from the console wary however to not turn her back on the Commander, to do so would be disrespectful.

Gary listened in silence as Kuri wove her story. When she had finished he sat quietly for several seconds, quietly taking in all she had told him. " Oh, I understand. make no mistake. I understand. It seems all families of all races have family issues. it goes with being a family. I can fully appreciate the fact that you wish to speak with Kara and inform her of her heritage and birth rights. May I ask as to why you've waited so long to inform Kara of her Klingon background?"

Kuri sighed, and a genuine sadness washed over her. "When I gave her away to Jayce and Clarissa. They asked me to not involve myself unless it was of vital importance. For many years now nobody suspected anything. However when I was due to become head of our house when my father died, a rival of our house who I had entrusted with this secret, revealed it to the council. The council did not at first believe this information, however they have been asking many questions, and now they threaten to do a full investigation into this matter. There is no longer any way to hide the secret of Kara's heritage. The council WILL find out. It is now just a matter of time, unless we expedite matters with honour. T'arik has put his life in danger to hide this information on more than one occassion, not just to protect our honour, but also Kara at my request." T'arik growled but resigned himself to not speak, instead chose to pace back and forth behind Kuri, occasionally looking to the commander.

"Well, I understand the need to come clean to Kara and I don't want your house to fall into dishonor and give your enemies an advantage. Nor do I wish your life or T'arik's to be in danger and especially Kara's life." He sighed, fell silent for a moment then returned his gaze to the view screen. 'We're currently engaged in a relief and rescue operation at Cortic IV." He sent the coordinates to Kuri, "How far away are you?"

She observed the screen, turning to T'arik. "vaj botjan HoS HInob SoH laH tu'lu' maH qaStaHvIS cha' jaj." He nodded and left the room. "We can be at your location in under two days. expect our arrival to be cloaked." She tapped the console and relayed their cloaking frequency. "That is our cloaking frequency. You will be able to track us if you are so inclined." She nodded. "Thank you commander, I appreciate your co-operation in this matter."

He took the cloaking frequency. "We'll keep an eye out for your arrival. Do you wish for me to speak to Kara about you coming here? I hate to spring you showing up without some warning for her. I'll need to inform Captain Lalor as well as to your arrival. I'll do my best to keep the specifics out of it. I give you my word. "Your welcome Kuri. As I said I have no wish for your house to fall into dishonour over what was a personal decision and in my opinion should have said one."

She shook her head wildly. "I have no issues with you telling her. You can say as much or as little to her as you wish. As for your Captain and you, we should be the ONLY Klingon vessel near your position. If any others appear, even if they seem friendly be warned they are dangerous. We are not sure just how well hidden we currently are from our position. It is possible others may seek us out to prevent our family from becoming a full house. We recommend you do not get involved if a battle breaks out. If you remain neutral no one will dare attack a federation ship. The consequences would be most severe for the entire empire if that were to happen. TlhIngan maH, Qapla' Commander!"

"Understood." Gary replied simply. I'll make sure I pass the information on to the Captain about you being the only Klingon ship near us. I look forward to seeing you in two days. "Qapla Kuri."